Television

B4U RESTRUCTURES AFTER BHARAT SHAH FIASCO

In a bid to get rid of some of the negative publicity that its association with Bharat Shah has got it, the B4U Television group has gone in for a bout of restructuring. It is in the process of transferring all its businesses from B4U Multimedia (earlier VIP Enterprises, a firm owned by Bharat Shah) to B4U Television Networks, a company owned by a Mauritian firm (which has Lakshmi Mittal, Gokul Binani, and Kishore Lulla as its owners).

Says B4U Television Network Ltd CEO Ravi Gupta: "We had initially floated B4U Television Networks but our investment bankers advised to instead find a profit making company as a special purpose vehicle to enable us to raise funds from the public. After due diligence, they opted for the Bharat Shah promoted VIP Enterprises, which was renamed as B4U Multimedia. Now with the crisis we have decided to revert everything back to the earlier company B4U Television Networks under advise from our investment bankers once again.."

The restructuring has meant that Gupta has been given additional responsibility. Earlier he oversaw primarily the India operations; now the entire B4U global activities have come under his belt. Among the markets he will be responsible for: UK, Africa, West Asia, and the US.